Hi David

I agree that .mobi is a pretty questionable idea, however I don't agree
that it's totally relevant to this issue.

If we were to follow the logic of your point we would end up removing .au
altogether and having everyone using a single, global domain space.  I have
heard the head of IP (that's Intellectual Property) of a major global company
express a desire for just such an outcome.  I don't think anyone on this
list  would suggest that's actually a feasible or desirable outcome, however.

The main point I would make about .com.au versus .au is that whenever I
hear people from outside this industry (I know a couple) talk about .com.au
addresses, they always leave off the .au.  This presumably is simply because
.com.au is 5 syllables, while .com is only 2.  This situation clearly causes
confusion and arguably diminishes the value of having a .au domain name
in the first place.  If people were able to register at the second level,
that would remove this issue altogether.

Releasing second level names would of course result in a number of issues
that would need to be resolved (grandfathering etc) and additional cost
for companies that wished to also register in the second level, however
there have been many examples of other ccTLDs around the world doing exactly
this without major incident.

Jon


>-- Original Message --
>Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 03:18:40 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David Goldstein <goldstein_david&#167;yahoo.com.au>
>To: DNS Mailing List <dns&#167;dotau.org>
>Subject: [DNS] why do we really need a .au name instead of com.au?
>Reply-To: ".au DNS Discussion List" <dns&#167;dotau.org>
>
>
>  Hi all
>   
>  In light of recent debates about allowing registrations for domains such
>as fredsrealestate.au I thought this article in Business Week was interesting
>about dotMobi.
>   
>  In the article, Sarah Deutsch, General Counsel of VERizon, is quoted
as
>saying big-name companies are being forced to register dotMobi domains
or
>risk brand damage. Sarah says "Anytime one of these top-level domains is
>introduced, we are forced to register these domains proactively because
if
>you don't do that, you are going to find your trademark infringed. It might
>be linked with pornography or phishing or fraud. Companies are forced to
>come in and protect their crown jewels." Sarah goes on to say that dotMobi
>names don?t offer the domain owners anything they can?t do with their existing
>domains. 
>   
>  I guess the same argument can be largely said about the recent proposals.
>And again it comes down to companies will be forced to register additional
>domains for negligible advantage to ward off cybersquatters. The Australian
>public is pretty well educated by now and know what a .com.au address is.
>   
>  Thinking more about it, we?d be just as well off campaigning against
the
>use of ?www? in domain names. 3 characters that largely don?t signify anything,
>and was subject of a spoof story in The Register some time ago that I inadvertently
>included in the news as serious news!
>   
>  Anyway, read the story below, or go to the auDA site for the news <http://auda.org.au/domain-news>
>and see a few more articles such as in the FT and Australian, that were
also
>posted to the list today.
>   
>  A New Wave of Web Addresses
>  An Irish company is registering new names with a mobile-friendly dot-mobi
>extension. But who's signing up and why?
>  http://businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2006/tc20060927_407386.htm
>   
>  Cheers
>  David
>   
>--------- 
>David Goldstein
> address: 4/3 Abbott Street
>           COOGEE NSW 2034
>           AUSTRALIA
> email: Goldstein_David &#167;yahoo.com.au
> phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
> 
>"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time
>you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery
>
>
>
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